Press

At the invitation of Convoy of Hope, Mike Walker, Executive Director of SERVE 6.8 left yesterday, August 21 with a team of 7 volunteer and staff team members. They have been asked to be part of Convoy of Hope’s leadership and strategy team in assessing and responding to immediate needs in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and the surrounding areas impacted by the flood.

Given SERVE 6.8’s emergency response and long term recovery efforts in Northern Colorado, they will be taking an experienced team to work alongside Convoy of Hope’s team that is on the ground in Baton Rouge.

Mike Walker and his team will also be assessing how we can connect our community to being a part the long recovery efforts in the near future. Along with SERVE 6.8’s database of over 6000 volunteer team members, SERVE 6.8 has 10 partner churches at the Resource Center who are anxious to find out how they can be a part of sending teams to assist in the long term flood recovery efforts.

Contact: Kari Stewart, SERVE 6.8 Board Member and Timberline Church Missions Director for more information at kstewart@serve68.org or Mitch Majeski, SERVE 6.8 Board Member and Summitview Church Pastor at mitchmajeski@gmail.com

SERVE 6.8 is based in Fort Collins, CO. Our mission to serve the people of Northern Colorado in tangible ways with God’s love, no strings attached is demonstrated through a strong database of 6000+ volunteer team members committed to responding to the needs of our community. Our mission lead us to open the Resource Center located at 1600 E. Mulberry, Unit 1, Fort Collins, CO 80524. The Resource Center currently has 10 partner churches in Northern Colorado to share God’s love and resources to those in financial hardship and crisis. For more information about SERVE 6.8, call 970-231-6445, email cgreen@serve68.org, or visit www.serve68.org, twitter @serve68, facebook Serve 6.8.

OPERATIONS AND OWNERSHIP OF MURPHY CENTER TRANSITION FROM SERVE 6.8 TO GROUP OF COMMUNITY PARTNERS – 11/6/2015

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Fort Collins nonprofit SERVE 6.8 today announced that it plans to transfer ownership and management of the Sister Mary Alice Murphy Center for Hope to a coalition of community partners in December of this year.

Under this new ownership and management, the Sister Mary Alice Murphy Center for Hope, commonly known as the Murphy Center, will continue to fulfill its mission of serving people who are homeless in Larimer County. The coalition of community partners includes four local organizations that will assume day-to-day operations of the Murphy Center, and Bohemian Foundation, which will become the building owner. The four organizations that will assume day-to-day operations are Homeless Gear, which is the organizations that will serve as the center’s managing partner; Catholic Charities; Neighbor to Neighbor; and SummitStone Health Partners.

SERVE 6.8, the manager of the Murphy Center since 2013, remains committed to addressing homelessness in Fort Collins, but plans to focus future efforts on preventative strategies, which include operation of the new SERVE 6.8 Resource Center at 1600 E. Mulberry St. The coalition of community partners and SERVE 6.8 are working together to ensure a smooth transition aimed at providing uninterrupted services to guests at the Murphy Center. The group plans to complete the center’s transition to new management on December 7.

“We thank the staff and board of directors of SERVE 6.8 for their leadership and dedication over the past two years, and are pleased that they will continue to serve the needs of our community in other important ways.” – Deputy City Manager, Jeff Mihelich

Since taking over the Murphy Center in July of 2013, SERVE 6.8 has facilitated 79,424 visits at the center.

“It has been our honor to serve the families and individuals who rely on the Murphy Center for assistance and to help stabilize this critical community resource during the past two years,” said Mike Walker, executive director of SERVE 6.8. “We are committed to our local community and look forward to continuing to strive to create significant and sustainable change in northern Colorado through other service initiatives. The Resource Center located at 1600 E. Mulberry is serving an average of 60 people per week who are at risk of being homeless if they are not connected to needed resources in our community.”

The new coalition of community partners will maintain the Murphy Center as a space in which multiple agencies can collectively and collaboratively provide a continuum of services to individuals who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. The agencies will work closely together to ensure that services are coordinated and delivered in accordance with the best practices.

United Way of Larimer County, an organization firmly committed to supporting people who are homeless through services provided at the Murphy Center, is helping to facilitate a smooth transition to the new operating and ownership partners. United Way and a number of foundations, churches and individual donors provide funding for the Murphy Center.

ABOUT THE SISTER MARY ALICE MURPHY CENTER FOR HOPE

Named in honor of Sister Mary Alice Murphy, a Larimer County pioneer of service to neighbors in need, the Sister Mary Alice Murphy Center celebrates compassionate action and serves as a resource center for families and individuals who face homelessness. The Murphy Center opened in 2009 and has proven to be a model for community collaboration and an essential resource in Larimer County. More information is available atwww.murphycenterforhope.org.

ABOUT SERVE 6.8

SERVE 6.8 is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization that creates significant and sustainable change in northern Colorado by expanding and enhancing the impact of community and faith based organizations, and by maximizing the full potential of compassion-driven organizations. More information is available at www.serve68.org.

ABOUT BOHEMIAN FOUNDATION

Bohemian Foundation is a private family foundation established in 2001. Based in Fort Collins, Colo., Bohemian Foundation works to empower citizens and impact communities through its responsive grant making programs and special initiatives. More information is available atwww.bohemianfoundation.org.

ABOUT HOMELESS GEAR

Homeless Gear operates a family of six programs that provides a continuum of services to individuals and families who are homeless: supplies that help them survive in the short-term, connections to resources in the interim and links to employment, housing and self-sufficiency in the long term.

ABOUT CATHOLIC CHARITIES

Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Denver has been serving the Northern Colorado community since 1983. We serve thousands of people each year in three areas: Shelter Services, Senior Services and Emergency Services. Catholic Charities is open to, and serves, all people. We collaborate with Catholic parishes and local churches, local businesses, nonprofit organizations, government agencies, medical facilities and educational institutions. Our shelters provide short- and long-term housing and supportive services with the objective of helping people become self-reliant.

ABOUT NEIGHBOR TO NEIGHBOR

Neighbor to Neighbor (N2N) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization serving as a primary housing resource for Larimer County residents since 1970, with services from homelessness to homeownership. N2N has operated its Fort Collins Renter Program at the Murphy Center since 2009. N2N’s Renter Program offers the following services: Emergency Rent Assistance, First Month’s Rent Assistance and Housing Search Assistance. N2N impacts over 5,000 individuals each year.

ABOUT SUMMITSTONE HEALTH PARTNERS

SummitStone Health Partners is a private nonprofit whose mission is to provide unsurpassed behavioral health prevention, intervention and treatment services in Larimer County. With 23 locations throughout Larimer County, SummitStone Health Partners provides mental health and substance abuse treatment that center on improving the lives of people served by building healthier individuals and families. Over 50 products and services allow SummitStone Health Partners to meet the individualized needs of consumers and their families through evidence-based and consumer-focused care. For more information, please visit www.summitstonehealth.org.

SERVE 6.8 Media Contact:

Kari Stewart

Communications Director, SERVE 6.8

970-231-2904

kstewart@serve68.org

Homeless Gear Media Contact:

David Rout

Executive Director, Homeless Gear

970-682-3193

david@homelessgear.org

Bohemian Foundation Media Contact:

June Greist

Communications Director, Bohemian Foundation

970-481-4361

june@bohemianfoundation.org

Red Cross honors community heroes.

Spirit of the Red Cross: Serve 6.8

Weeks before the High Park Fire, community volunteers banded together to help those in need in our communities as Serve 6.8.

Little did they know how much they would be needed over the next two years.

From emotional care, to sheltering, to helping families as they travel the long road of recovery after a disaster, Serve 6.8 has truly helped to alleviate human suffering in the face of disasters.

They are compassionate, caring, credible and collaborative as they truly live the Spirit of the Red Cross.

Volunteers Helping Repair Flood Damaged Communities

LARIMER COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4) – Nearly 100 volunteers are working to help victims of last fall’s flooding rebuild their community.

It has been six months since devastating flood waters washed away homes.

On Wednesday volunteers removed silt from the yards of homes along Grouse Hallow Lane just off Highway 34.

They’re clearing the way for volunteers to pick up debris washed over during the flood. Volunteers of America and Serve 68, a local church group, said more than 100 people have already signed up to take part in a day of service planned for Saturday. Read Story

A local volunteer force and newly formed nonprofit has been making its mark, helping the Fort Collins community through fires, floods and everyday life this year.

Serve 6.8, an independent nonprofit with roots in Timberline Church, was formed last year shortly after the High Park Fire with the goal of uniting volunteers from faith and secular communities. In light of that mission, the group took over ownership and operations of the Sister Mary Alice Murphy Center for Hope, 242 Conifer St., in July to better serve the homeless and near homeless communities.

But this month, Serve 6.8 dove into the waters of its largest project to date: Helping Northern Colorado’s flood survivors.

FORT COLLINS, CO – April 3, 2014 – Larimer County is working in collaboration with the American Red Cross and the Fort Collins based non-profit disaster relief organization known as SERVE 6.8 to provide free, filled sandbags to flood and fire survivors.

Larimer County, with funding assistance from the Red Cross, implemented a free sandbag program in 2013 to provide post-fire flood protection to areas impacted by the High Park Fire. The anticipated 2014 snow-melt runoff, expected to peak in late May-early June, may cause minor to moderate flooding in the areas affected by the 2013 flood, and sandbags may be helpful in protecting structures and property in this newly impacted area.

Larimer County will donate sandbags, sand and the sandbag filling machine purchased in 2013 with funds from the Red Cross. SERVE 6.8 will manage the program, coordinate volunteers and property owners requesting sandbags, and will be scheduling convenient staging areas for filled sandbag pickup. Information for how to construct proper sandbag protection can be found at www.larimer.org/flooding2013 and click the ‘2014 Riverwatch: Flood Preparedness’ tab in the right hand column. SERVE 6.8 plans to kick off the program by providing sandbags in the Estes Park area on April 12 and 19 at the west end of Fish Hatchery Road, just north of the Town of Estes Park’s Historic Fall River Hydroplant at 1754 Fish Hatchery Rd. The Town of Estes Park will provide sand for the local operation. Other locations for sandbag filling and pickup will be scheduled as requested.

Contact SERVE 6.8 at 970-231-6445 or email info@serve68.org to volunteer or request sandbags.

Free Sandbag Program Hopes to Combat Spring Runoff

Sandbags are available to help flood survivors guard against spring runoff damage.

Nonprofit Serve 6.8, in collaboration with Larimer County and the American Red Cross, are providing the sandbags at no cost to survivors of September’s flooding. A similar program was hosted by Larimer County in 2013 to help High Park Fire survivors.